Joe Bennett Smith Received A Sentence Of 16 1/2 Years In Spring Of 2000

ATTORNEY FOR DRUG RINGLEADER CONTESTS SENTENCE

The U.S. Attorney Countered That The Defendant Actually Received Several
Breaks In His Sentence.

Passions ran high as attorneys argued in federal court Thursday over how
much time the leader of a marijuana ring that supplied Southwest Virginia
during the late 1980s and early 1990s should continue to serve in prison.

Roanoke attorney Robert Rider repeatedly made the case that there was no
justice in the sentence of 16 1/2 years meted out to Joe Bennett "Jay"
Smith in May 2000. Smith was one of the leaders of the Phototron ring,
so-named for the high-powered lights used to grow marijuana in Roanoke
County growhouses.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Mott countered that Smith had already received
several breaks in his sentence. Smith could have faced a life sentence
because of a previous conviction for drug conspiracy and because of the
amount of drugs Smith took responsibility for: almost 30,000 plants. Smith
also helped reduce his sentence by aiding the prosecution.

Chief U.S. District Judge Samuel Wilson ultimately re-sentenced Smith to
two months shy of 10 years in prison. Smith, 45 and the father of four, is
already serving the sentence in a federal prison in Michigan. He was not in
the courtroom.

Smith got the opportunity to have his sentence revisited after he won an
appeal based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said defendants should
be able to have their guilty pleas reconsidered if the specific criminal
acts they were pleading guilty to were not spelled out. Under the decision,
Smith could only be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years.

The hotly contested hearing reflected the years of legal wrangling the case
has entailed.

Rider argued during the hearing that it was wrong for Smith's sentence to
be increased because he was charged with a second drug conspiracy after
Smith was already serving time on a 1996 marijuana conspiracy conviction.

Rider argued that because Smith's first conviction was not final when Smith
was charged with the second conspiracy, that the second charge was illegal.
Rider also said that the prosecution presented no evidence that a separate
second marijuana conspiracy existed after Smith went to prison in 1996.

Wilson rejected Rider's argument, citing evidence that Smith checked in on
some of the growhouses when he was out on bond and collected money up until
April or May of 1997. Wilson also mentioned that Smith chose to sign a plea
agreement that said he knew his sentence could be enhanced if further
criminal activity occurred.

"Just because you've been convicted of conspiracy doesn't mean you can
continue it once you've been convicted," Wilson said.